Bassett Park

See ya Pete! We loved catching up and it definitely felt like something was missing after you left. Till next time 🤙
After a quick trip to the airport we sampled some of the catch from the day before, BLACK SNAPPER cook up with fresh salt and pepper squid. We were told black snapper tastes better than pink by a couple of different people and they were right, it was amazing. We won’t be battering it next time, I m thinking fried in a buttery pan with garlic and chives...... yum!
I want to catch a shark! I want to catch a shark! The boys said over and over, so you guessed it, we went shark fishing in shark bay. The boat was packed and we headed to the squid ground. We had a triple hookup on some monster squid with our first casts. Brett being the designated line rigger also had netting duty and got covered in squid ink.......... I mean blasted by one monster squid head to toe. More squid were hooked, then Lachie hooked a screamer that turned out to be a BLACK SNAPPER, it had engulfed the whole squid jig, he did well to get it in cause they pull like a horse.
Out to our favourite fishing hole we travelled and down went the baits, we have learnt not to burley out here cause the sharks that result are massive and not what the boys could handle. After 20 minutes of catching black snapper and pike, Brax was on, it was peeling line and diving under and around the boat in every direction but finally on a very light rod he brought up a 2-3 foot shark. He couldn’t believe how hard they fight!
Now the sharks were in town, we rigged Lachie up on a heavy rod and sent the bait down. Not too long and his reel was singing. After another impressive fight we had a second shark in the boat. This one had swallowed the hook and we decided to keep it much to the boys delight.
I had wanted to try catching and eating shark for a while now and have done some research on how they must be prepared. They must be bled immediately to remove any mercury or heavy metals before they have the chance to enter the meat. Secondly, sharks do not wee so their urea is excreted through their skin and hence gutting them immediately also reduces excess urea entering the meat. Now any urea present in the meat turns to ammonia and can make it smell, different shark species have differing levels of urea in their flesh but it can be treated to remove any impurities. After filleting I soaked the meat in an ice bath for 4-5 hours which really firmed up the meat followed by an hour soaked in milk and lemon juice in the fridge. The result was great, firm, white, beautiful looking fillets with no odour what so ever, not even a fishy odour.
Our neighbours had very kindly given us a couple of cray earlier in the day. The bbq was started, and the Cray tails cooked with butter, oil, shallotte’s, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. Salt, pepper, lemon, sweet and sour sauce was added before they were turned. LOOK AT THOSE SHARK FILLETS! They were cooked with the same sauces. The shark was amazing, and everyone had a taste and couldn’t believe how good it was, it was a firm texture and had soaked all the flavour in, I even found my fork drifting to the shark over the cray....... “IT WAS DELICIOUS”
Shark is definitely going to be on the menu again!Read more